1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and methods for providing business card services to mobile subscribers within a cellular network, and specifically to enhancing features provided by business card services within a cellular network.
2. Background and Objects of the Present Invention
Cellular telecommunications is one of the fastest growing and most demanding telecommunications applications ever. Today it represents a large and continuously increasing percentage of all new telephone subscriptions around the world. A standardization group, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), was established in 1982 to formulate the specifications for the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) digital mobile cellular radio system.
With reference now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is illustrated a GSM Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), such as cellular network 10, which in turn is composed of a plurality of areas 12, each with a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 14 and an integrated Visitor Location Register (VLR) 16 therein. The MSC/VLR areas 12, in turn, include a plurality of Location Areas (LA) 18, which are defined as that part of a given MSC/VLR area 12 in which a mobile station (MS) 20 may move freely without having to send update location information to the MSC/VLR 14/16 that controls the LA 18. Each Location Area 12 is divided into a number of cells 22.
Mobile Station (MS) 20 is the physical equipment, e.g., a car phone or other portable phone, used by mobile subscribers to communicate with the cellular network 10, each other, and users outside the subscribed network, both wireline and wireless. The MS 20 may also include a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card 200, or other memory, which provides storage of subscriber related information, such as a subscriber authentication key, temporary network data, and service related data, such as language preference.
The MSC 14 is in communication with at least one Base Station Controller (BSC) 23, which, in turn, is in contact with at least one Base Transceiver Station (BTS) 24. The BTS 24 is the physical equipment, illustrated for simplicity as a radio tower, that provides radio coverage to the geographical part of the cell 22 for which it is responsible. It should be understood that the BSC 23 may be connected to several BTSs 24, and may be implemented as a stand-alone node or integrated with the MSC 14. In either event, the BSC 23 and BTS 24 components, as a whole, are generally referred to as a Base Station System (BSS) 25.
With further reference to FIG. 1, the PLMN Service Area or cellular network 10 includes a Home Location Register (HLR) 26, which is a database maintaining all subscriber information, e.g., user profiles, current location information, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers, and other administrative information. The HLR 26 may be co-located with a given MSC 14, integrated with the MSC 14, or alternatively can service multiple MSCs 14, the latter of which is illustrated in FIG. 1.
The VLR 16 is a database containing information about all of the MSs 20 currently located within the MSC/VLR area 12. If an MS 20 roams into a new MSC/VLR area 12, the MSC 14 will request data about that MS 20 from the HLR database 26 (simultaneously informing the HLR 26 about the current location of the MS 20) and store the data in the VLR 16 connected to that MSC 14. Accordingly, if the user of the MS 20 then wants to make a call, the local VLR 16 will have the requisite identification information without having to reinterrogate the HLR 26. In the aforedescribed manner, the VLR and HLR databases 16 and 26, respectively, contain various subscriber information associated with a given MS 20.
Today, a number of non-mobile held devices support business card applications for storing business cards in electronic form. The information from a business card can include the person's name, fax and telephone number and e-mail address. In addition, recent developments have proposed implementing such business card applications within mobile devices, such as an MS 20. The business card information can be stored within, for example, the SIM card 200, and can be accessed to initiate an outgoing call to a selected person's telephone number, fax number, or, alternatively, to the selected person's e-mail address through the Internet.
However, the utilization of such mobile-based business card applications has been limited to the storage and retrieval of the business card information. In today's society, with the mobility of employees between various employers, business card information can change rapidly. Instead of providing a hard copy of such business card information each time the information changes, which must be manually entered into the mobile-based business card application, it would be more convenient to store such information in the mobile-based business card application, transmit the information over the cellular network to each desired subscriber that has this business card application, and re-transmit the information if any changes are made without having to remember each subscriber that the information was initially sent to.
Furthermore, with the increase in available supplementary services, such as call forwarding, call blocking, caller ID, call priority, positioning and conference calling, it would be advantageous to utilize the business card information to tailor these supplementary services to the individual subscriber.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to enhance business card services within the cellular network to provide additional features to mobile subscribers.